The Year I Created 52 Pieces of Music-Inspired Art (With a Full Time Job): My Taste These Lyrics Instagram Journey
10/25/25
The Discovery of Foil Art
The year 2022 was coming to a close. From time to time up to this point I casually started out drawing type with music lyrics and illustrations by hand and later creating digital artwork on the computer sporadically throughout the years. This time it would be different. The spark that started it all. August 2022 became a turning point for me. I had just moved to Pittsburgh a few months earlier and started a new job this same month that I would keep for three years. I was looking for inspiration to craft my art in a new, different medium but had no idea what it would be. I eventually stumbled upon Cooper Calligraphy's artwork on Instagram by accident and loved her artwork. It was hand crafting with shiny metallic reactive foil. I was particularly drawn to the beautiful shiny, bright colors the most. I loved that it was something different than what I was used to. Crafting with your hands instead of a mouse. I loved that way the light hit the surface of the paper that made the foil shine so bright with reflecting light. There was just something about the reflection of light that brought the piece alive that digitally couldn’t do. It was mesmerizing to watch.
With my prior knowledge of print production I decided to teach myself this technique. I watched carefully how to craft and in what order to do so. I bought materials for crafting specifically for using reactive foil that a inkjet printer could not reproduce. You needed a laser printer to make it work. You needed to understand the craft such as how toner and heat work together to stick to paper such as cardstock. It was a lot of trial and error, wasted foil, cardstock, and toner, and reediting artwork digitally to fix mistakes. But I discovered I loved this new medium. It combined drawing, digital art, and handmade crafting in one. This is the spark that started Taste These Lyrics. Combined with my passion for music, art, and design along with strong illustration skills.
My passion for music started with a close family member’s shared bond and the loss that motivated me to create mentioned more here. I was always good at designing expressive typography and illustration in college as a top strength. This is where I decided to form these all together and seriously create music + design inspired pieces. The music artists that motivated me in some way behind their work and mine that crafted from theirs in different ways. Artists that inspire other artists to create new work. I’d like to believe this is how masterpieces are born. A combination of greatness inspired by each other somehow.
Making Music Visible: My Modern Connection to Kandinsky
I needed a way to stay connected to the loss of a family member with this shared bone of music. I needed to find more ways to help cope. Music also tells stories behind the lyrics, behind the sound. The emotion and depth put into the whole song expressed from writing to sound. I decided I wanted to really push myself creatively. In August 2022, I decided to dedicate one full year to creating music inspired artwork with foil art every single week with a full time job on top of it. I illustrated song lyrics, created illustrations, and expressive typography to create the work. I listened to each song sometimes many times over before creating. Then once I have ideas in mind, I look for more design inspiration and start to sketch ideas. These ideas come from the song’s tone/mood, lyrics and meaning, and overall matching visuals and sound together in a physical art piece. It is where sound and the visual arts come together. In a way, my artwork makes me think of abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky, a visual artist who was known to see sound and hear colors. He believed that colors and shapes could express the same emotions as music — that a painting could sound as much as it could be seen.. I understand this particular artist when crafting my own work. His work was all about translating music into the visual form using color, rhythm and composition similar to a composer uses melody, harmony, and tempo. My work visually interprets song lyrics through foil, texture, and shine with more of a contemporary pop culture edge. Music is a language of emotion where we are just two artists from different eras and crafted mediums.
The Yearlong Creative Challenge
Each week I posted a new art piece in my Taste These Lyrics instagram. I learned different tactics to design my work so when I print and foil it, some of the work is transparent and lets you see through it such as my Slipknot inspired or Troy Cartwright artwork. I experimented with ripping up paper and turning it into artwork such as my Smith and Myers artwork. I added black foil behind colored layers of type to give it depth so the type appears almost raised and pops a little off the paper such as my Falling in Reverse artwork. Each week I crafted. showed behind the scenes videos working on it, crafting, and sneak peek images/sketches. One year was a real test on discipline and motivation. There were many days where I didn’t have the motivation to keep going and creating. Some of my work was great and some of it was not, but I posted anyway. I needed to keep going and meet my goal. I created for a few hours before work, worked eight hours and came back home to work on it more than get some sleep as my daily routine. I didn’t have friends to hang out with the time I was there. I kept to myself and kept creating. A lot of time spent on my own before I adopted a kitten I named Kit in October 2022. I balanced taking care of my kitten, my job, and crafting. It was a lot but my cat kept me determined to make it work.
Some days I was burnt out and did not post. I skipped a few weeks in between the year but I made it up by sometimes creating two per week and when the deadline came for the one year mark, I kept going a few months later to make up for the missed weeks. I finished my goal in January or February 2024. The burnout set me back a little but it was worth it in the end. As time progressed I was happy to see all of the new pieces I created. Some of it in different color variations.
The goal was tough and exhausting, but I knew I needed to stay consistent. Even posting each week, I did not build a strong audience of followers but I did build resilience and showed I can achieve tough goals on my own. Sometimes I had the music artists who inspired me to create notice and really liked my work. I thanked them and kept a screenshot on my page as a reminder I can accomplish hard goals and that there was someone out there who did like my work even though barely anyone notices the work you create. Sometimes it was only the music artist who noticed my art that kept me going and not to give up. It was a reminder that after all of the constant (probably hundreds) of graphic design job rejection I received during the hardest time of my life after graduation with navigating grief and loss on my own, I can accomplish things I strive for. I had music artists and record labels of all backgrounds big name or small just starting out in the industry be inspired and touched by my work as well. That meant a lot to me knowing I’m just this one person with not as much support or recognition and someone who inspired me to create was touched by it in some way back.
Reflection: What’s Next
Since meeting my goal and proving I have the consistency, dedication, and resilience to accomplish hard things, I took a break from creating to focus on other things. Sometimes I still feel unaccomplished and down on myself since I still work miserable struggle jobs (retail, etc.) and not in a creative field but it is that reminder that I still look at from time to time of all the artists out there who did like my work and believed in me. This experience helped me move forward with navigating grief knowing they are still in my heart cheering me on and would of taken an interest in knowing this journey started because of the loss right after graduation.
Since then I got some of my artwork featured in a NYC art gallery called The Holy Art in my blog post here and Penn College’s art gallery for a month in 2026 here. I plan to keep creating with foil art in the future. Hopefully near future. I now also do illustrative foil art created from sketches listed in the art store as well. I also accept custom made illustration or foil art you can request and I will create anything you want found at the top of the art store here. Just fill out the form and hit the email button. I encourage other designers or artists out there to not be afraid of difficult goals or journeys and do them anyway. They might not lead to recognition from others or monetization, but it will be that reminder that you for sure can accomplish anything difficult with consistency, motivation, and dedication to meeting that goal. I highly encourage you to experiment with new mediums and a commitment to those passion projects you’ve been delaying. You’ll be surprised with what you can accomplish.
Follow Taste These Lyrics on Instagram to see the full collection of music-inspired foil art pieces.
Click here and follow me on Pinterest! Don’t forget to click the Pinterest Pin button at the very bottom of the page to share this blog post with others!
If you like my blog and want me to continue writing more, please consider either sending a small donation for your support in keeping this up and running or support me by buying my art or collecting rewards by referring others to my graphic design services! Thank you!